Making It To Summer Part 4: Beach Day!

Welcome welcome friends!

This is the last post in my Making It To Summer series - a series filled with tips and products to help you make it to the final bell signaling the start of summer! Today is all about something I am super excited to start doing in my classroom - Beach Day!!

After visiting The Ron Clark Academy last month, I started looking for opportunities to make learning come alive for my kids.  If you follow me on Instagram, then you'll know I turned my classroom into an "ocean" earlier this month when we did Shark Week.

When I started looking at what we were going to do at the end of the year to review all that we have learned this year, my Just Beachy End of Year Review Centers inspired me to turn my classroom into a beach!  

So off to Dollar Tree to load up on supplies...

Centers supplies

Small buckets were a set of 3 for $1

Tablecloth - "ocean water"

Palm Tree Decor

Chevron InnerTube (from Walmart)

Leis - packs of 6 for $1 - each kiddo will get one

Cups and drink umbrellas - I have asked parents for fresh fruit to put into the cups with drink umbrellas.  We will also have goldfish, water and lemonade for our beachy snack.

Photo booth supplies!  I found the awesome beach backdrop at Party City for about $7 and this will hang in my room to be a backdrop (pictured below) for our photo booth area.  Hula skirts, fun beach sunglasses and beach toys will complete the photo booth.  I'll bring a big bucket from home to put all the supplies in.

The beach scene setter is huge!!  The two large panels just about complete covered the cubbies in our classroom which was perfect and the exact place I wanted to hang it!  I used binder clips to hang it - so I can hang it the day before and just pull the scene setter up in the morning so they can put their book bags and such in the cubbies, then pull it down to make our backdrop.

Now, what are all the snorkel masks and sand scoops for?  These are going to be used for centers of course!

For my Scuba Diving For Inflections ELA center, the kids will get to wear the goggles while they are working in the center.  I only purchased 4 goggles, so that center will be limited to 4 kids at a time.

Note: the goggles are made to cover the nose, I just small scissors and cut the nose part off the bottom so they could breathe while they are working and wearing their goggles.

The small buckets will allow the kids to sort the cards while working.

For Digging Up Facts & Opinions, I got these large sand scoops from Dollar Tree so the kids could sort the facts and opinions cards on the scoops instead of in the buckets.

In addition to our photo booth scene setter helping set the beach mood, I'm also going to have a beach scene video going on YouTube so we can transport ourselves to the beach with the waves crashing and palm trees swaying.  The video is 3 hours long so I won't have to keep restarting the video all day - just a couple times.  

Wanna keep your video ad-free?  Head over to The Brown Bag Teacher's blog with a couple of websites and browser add-ons you can use to keep your YouTube videos safe for young eyes and ears!

My Just Beachy Centers are perfect for creating your own beach day or just for reviewing concepts at the end of the year with a beach theme.  I've used these centers for a couple years now, but am so excited to take it to a new level!

If you stayed with me through all of this - then you deserve a freebie!

Click the image below to grab my Beach Day booklet cover.  I took all the center sheets I wanted my kiddos to complete during Beach Day and copied/stapled them as a booklet so they don't lose their sheets.

The file is editable - download as a PowerPoint file from Google Sheets and you can edit the text box with your name, beach name, a place for students to record their name, or whatever floats your boat!

What fun activities do you have planned for the last days of school?

Making It To Summer Part 3: End Of Year Award Medals

Hello friends!  I'm back for Part 3 of 4 of my Making It To Summer series.  This series is to help you make it to the final bell without going totally crazy and getting all those little fun things in at the end of the year.

Today, I'm sharing about my end of year classroom award medals - awards that your kiddos can wear home with them!

Last year, I came up with this idea of having my kids end of year awards - our fun awards - as medals  that they could wear home with them.  Our school does quarterly awards, so the awards I do at the end of the year are our fun awards and I wanted them to be different from their usual award certificates.

There are TONS of different award medals included - some with boy and girl versions.  Most of the awards also include descriptions to help you decide which student in your class is deserving of which award.

Some of the awards include...

Inspector Gadget

Helping Hand

Fantastic Friend

Question King/Queen

Future Sportscaster

Curious Cat

News Reporter

Totally Techy

Energizer Bunny

Nobel Peace Prize

Wiggle Worm

Amazing Author

Mr./Miss Chatterbox

and more!

I prepped mine this week very easily - just print, laminate, cut, punch 2 holes at the top and tie a piece of ribbon through.  I punch 2 holes at the top of each award medal so that the medal will lay flat on their stomach - both the medal and the ribbon - and that way they can show off their award!

Check out the awards I'll be giving out to my kiddos this year, all prepped and ready to go!

Do you do fun awards with your kiddos at the end of the year?

My kiddos always LOVE these because it gives us a little time to giggle and laugh at some of the funny things they do throughout the year.

Grab these awards and you'll be all ready for the end of the year awards!

Come back next Monday for the last part of my Making It To Summer series - all about a day full of fun and review of what we've learned in 2nd Grade!

Making It To Summer Part 2: End of Year Gift & Summer Games

Hey friends!  I'm back to Part 2 of my Making It To Summer series.  This series will give you some ideas and links to products that will help you make it to the final bell signaling summer vacation!

Today's ideas are to help you get those end of year gifts ready as well giving your kids all sorts of games and activities to keep them busy over summer vacation and hopefully keep that dreaded "summer slide" from happening (too much at least)!

For the past few years, I have been giving my kiddos buckets for part of their end of year gift.  In the past, I've gotten sand pails from dollar tree, but this year, I thought ahead (way ahead) and got Easter buckets at Walmart.  They were a few cents cheaper and had fun designs that I knew my kids would enjoy.

I used my Cricut Explore and some vinyl to make the letters to put my kiddo's names on their buckets.

Now - to fill those buckets!!  First off, I get a book from Scholastic Reading Club using my Scholastic points.  I go for those $1 books and this year I got a variety of books to help meet the variety of interests and reading abilities of all the kids.  I also ask parents for things such as bubble wands, KoolAid, funky straws, sidewalk chalk, playdoh, etc. that I put in their buckets as well.  That way it is full of things to keep them busy and having fun all summer!

Then, I get to add some more educational and fun goodies.  First up, is a Summer Fun Practice Pack.  I copy and staple this booklet front-back and it includes math and language arts activities as well as summer themed writing prompts. 

Knowing my kiddos - they'll spend plenty of time covering the cover before they get to working on the inside.  The LOVE coloring Melonheadz kids on their monthly mClass math booklets and BAT booklets.

Then comes the games!!  There are lots of card games that are included with direction cards to tape on the bag of cards and there are also 4 different BINGO cards that can be used with the place value and clock cards included with the set.

What kinds of cards and games are included you ask?!?!

Number Cards - single, double, and triple digit

Game ideas - Even/Odd Sort, Adding & Subtracting 2 ore more cards, ordering largest to smallest or vice versa, comparing using greater than/less than

Double/Triple digit cards can also be used for BINGO

Clock Cards

Game Ideas - memory, BINGO

Money Cards

Game Ideas - memory, BINGO

Letter & Sound Cards

Game Ideas - Sound Check, BANG (like POP, ZIP, whatever you may call it), I spy letter sounds

Sight Word Cards

Game Ideas - Tricky Words Slap

With each set of cards, there is a directions sheet that students tape to their bag of cards so they have game ideas and directions.  These are great games to play with siblings, babysitters, and parents.  With a variety of games, they won't get bored playing the same thing over and over again.

Let the kiddos make their game cards!!  We take one day (of our 10 Day Countdown) to make our cards for the games.  In the past, I've done them all in the morning - but this year, I'm thinking of doing the spelling and language arts cards in the morning and the math cards in the afternoon.  It helps their little hands!

For a better preview of what is included, click the image above to go to my TPT store.  Download the preview for a better view.

There are even tags you can attach to the buckets!

Head over to my TPT store to grab this and get started on your end of year gifts!  

Now, if you stayed with me this long - I've got a surprise for you! This set will be on sale in my TPT store through Thursday - so grab it while it's on sale! I hope this will help you get your End of Year gifts ready and that you'll join me again, next Tuesday for Part 3 of my Making It To Summer series!

Making It To Summer Series: Part 1

Okay teacher friends - be honest, how many of you are counting down until summer vacation?  I know I am!  As my superintendent said this past weekend, "these are the dog days of education," and we need any help we can get to make it to summer.

So I've got a 4-part blog series with ideas and products I have created that can help you make it until summer vacation.  Finish your year out with a bang and don't lose all your hair!

Part 1 of my Making It To Summer series is all about counting down the last 10 (or more if you want) days of school with my Surfin' Into Summer QR Code Countdown.

You have probably seen all of the Pinterest ideas for counting down to summer and doing a fun activity each day.  My first couple years of teaching, I did the balloons and put all the activities in balloons and displayed on a bulletin board in my classroom. 

It looked great and all Pinterest-y - at first.  That is, until the balloons all started to deflate.  So, I had to come up with a new idea that wouldn't involve delating balloons.  About this time, QR codes were making their big debut in education, so I incorporated this technology into our countdown to summer.

Each afternoon we would use one of our classroom iPads to scan the QR code for the next day's activity.  I scan it the afternoon before so that if students need to bring something to school, like sunglasses or a beach towel, the next day, they know to bring it in the morning.

There are over 25 activities that you can choose from for your countdown to summer.  I always countdown the last 10 days, but with all these fun activities - you could count down for the last 25 or more days of school!

What's included in this product you ask?

First there are display posters (pictured above).  If you do not wish to use the QR codes, you could use these posters to display in your classroom.  This does take the "mystery" out of the Summer Countdown, but I know teachers use products in different ways so the posters are included.  These posters are the same images that the QR codes will link to when scanned.

Now to the QR codes!

I have included two display options for the QR codes.  The first option is just surfboards with the QR codes.  Print and cut out the surfboards to hang in your classroom.  My first year, I hung these in my classroom windows.

The second option is a beach scene with Day # (blank) so that you can write down which activities yo want to do each day.  This is the option I am using this year in my classroom.  For now, they are hanging on my whiteboard, until I decide where I want them to be permanently as we get closer to our 10 Day countdown.  With my kiddos knowing how to scan QR codes with their iPads, I need them to be a little higher and "out of the way" to ensure my kids aren't scanning QR codes to reveal the secret activities.

Do you do a countdown to summer with your kiddos?  When school is so stressful now with assessments and having to "make the grade", I enjoy getting to spend the last few days of school doing fun and happy activities with my kiddos - because that's what I want them to remember about our time together.

Come back Sunday afternoon for Part 2 of 4 in my Making It To Summer series.  Up next - End of Year bucket gifts and summer games!

Happy Friday-eve friends! 

Is your Wishlist or Cart Ready?!?!

Have you heard?!?!  TeachersPayTeachers is hosting another great sale this Tuesday and Wednesday to celebrate their 10th Anniversary and Teacher Appreciation Week!  What a better way to appreciate teachers than with a sale!

I'm linking up with Teaching In The Tongass for My TPT Store Top Wishlisted Products Linky Party.  So, I'm sharing my top 3 wishlisted products that are in my TPT store.

My top wish listed item is my Class Dojo Super Pack.  This product has been such a help in my classroom for the past year and has given my kiddos the opportunity to save their Dojo points to spend in our Dojo store for a variety of prizes.  My kiddos track their points each day on their graph and then can cash out their points for Dojo Dollars to spend in our store.  Then there's even more with the addition of point clubs and leader of the week.  Many customers say this has transformed how they use Class Dojo in their classroom.  You can find out more info about how I use this product in my classroom here.

Next is reading response and book activities for one of my favorite children's books - The Day the Crayons Quit.  I fell in love with this book at one of my local teacher supply stores and my insisted that I buy it.  These activities not only allow you to cover comprehension skills and analyzing characters, but you can also have your student write to "themselves' as if they are the crayon and they quit "work"!

And lastly, something just for you, the teacher!  I love my Erin Condren lesson planner (check out the new one that debuts today!), but I love to be able to type my lesson plans so that I have a back-up copy as well as they are neat and tidy looking (I admit - I'm OCD!).  I found a couple freebie templates online, but they didn't quite line up correctly in my planner, so I made my own.  The colors match the planner as well, so you still get the pretty Erin Condren look, but you lesson plans look nice and neat as well - just print, trim the edges, and tape into your planner.

I hope that you have found some awesome ideas, and if you are looking for more make sure to check out the linky above so you can find more great ideas to add to your basket this week for a great price!!

What we've been up to in 2nd Grade...plus a classroom management FREEBIE!

Happy Friday!! Woohoo, it's March which means spring will be here soon and spring break season is upon us!  I only have 10 days between me and 2 weeks of spring track-out.  Lots to do between now and then, but it'll be here before I know it!
So, we've been up to a lot since I was on my little blog here last.  If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen we have gone full flexible seating in our room.  I'll have to dedicate a whole blog post just to that.
First up, this quarter I started having STEM Friday's each Friday during our Excel time (intervention block) using Brooke Brown's year-long STEM pack. I'm not sure that they have yet learned anything about science, technology, engineering, or math, but if they can learn how to get along and work in a small group, I'll call it a success in the end.
This week we made wind-powered mazes.  I only gave each group 1 box of unifix cubes and they had to make a maze from that box of cubes.  Some struggled working together, and one group, when it came time to race their marbles, had a huge gap in the side of their maze - so they had to problem solve and fix that before they could navigate the maze.

I realized after school, I forgot to give the kids the straws to help them blow on the marbles - OOPS!  That would have probably helped this sweet one!

The past couple weeks we have been tackling money in math.  With St. Patrick's Day coming up, I made this fun activity to make a colorful bulletin board and get the kids using coins to make a specified amount of money.

Each kiddo got a cloud and they have to show me how they would make that amount of money by drawing the coins they would use.  Then they got to go get their coins (clipart) to cut out and put on their pot.

Easy differentiation - there are amounts above and below one dollar.  We hadn't yet done amounts over one dollar, so I gave a few kiddos a challenge - and they mastered it!

Now, I will tell you, I did the rainbow part for my kiddos.  Before we did the project, I layered the colored strips of paper and taped them so they looked like a fan.  Then, as the kiddos finished up their pots with the coins and cut out their clouds, they brought it to me and I put the rainbow part together.

I knew it would be a total disaster if I had my kiddos do that part and I would have pulled all my hair out, so I helped them with that part.

You can grab this activity {HERE} from my TPT store!

Now, for a a little classroom management FREEBIE!

I'm not sure if you have watched Teachers on TV Land or not (I wasn't a fan), but in one of the first episodes, one of the teachers got her kiddos attention by saying Quiet Coyote.  I thought it was a fun idea, so I started using it in my class too!

We even use Quiet Coyote when we are in line.  I ask them for my Quiet Coyote line and they all show me their coyotes on their hands.  Now, if you are in North Carolina, you will also know this as the NC State wolf...this may or may not have been even more reason that I use it - Go Pack!!

Then, I was listening to Ron Clark one day on the way home from school and he was talking about attention getters and getting your class to stop FAST!  So, we started to make it a game.  We practiced a few times and they kept getting faster, so then it was time to start keeping score!

When the kids stop moving and talking super fast, they earn a point.  When they are slow or keep talking, I earn a point.  This is similar to the smiley/frowny game that Whole Brain Teaching emphasizes.  At the end of the day, if the kids have more Quiet Coyote points than I do, they earn a whole class point on Class Dojo for a Quiet Coyote Class Win.

After a couple weeks of making my own little game board on my whiteboard each day, I made this cute little game board with coyote clipart from Melonheadz included!

Grab the freebie {HERE}

Hope you were able to grab a new idea and maybe even a new resource or two!

Have a wonderful weekend, sweet readers!